Planned job cuts hit two-year high as government pares military

U.S. employers are planning to cut almost 116,000 jobs this month, the deepest planned cuts in two years, according to the latest report by the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The job cuts for September are more than double than the number announced in August and reflect growing austerity measures in Washington.

Both the Army reductions and the Bank of America layoffs may be anomalies, Challenger points out, but they also could be a sign that more cuts will be coming in those sectors. So far this year, U.S. employers have announced plans to eliminate almost 480,000 jobs, about 17 percent more than this time last year.